Dear Charlie
by Elizabeth-reader-futurewriter
Summary: Dear Charlie, You don't know who I am, but I know you.I'm writing to you because of the letters you wrote almost 20 years ago. You didn't write them to me of course,I wasn't even alive yet when you wrote your letters. They eventually found their way to...
1. Chapter 1

December 14, 2010

Dear Charlie,

You don't know me, but I know you. I'm writing to you because of the letters you wrote almost 20 years ago. You didn't right them to me of course, I wasn't even alive yet when you wrote your letters. They eventually found their way to me anyway. I sometimes like to think that it was fate. Or maybe it was just good luck.

You are probably wondering how exactly I came to find your letters. Well you see the person who didn't sleep with that girl even though he could have, your original reader, is my father. He doesn't know I found them, though because I never told him. You see about two years ago, I was exploring my dad's new house. He had just moved again. You see what my dad used to do was buy a house, remodel it and make it generally better, and then sell it again a year or two later for more than he had paid for it.

Anyway I was exploring the new house and I noticed there was an old wooden staircase in the garage. It was one of those staircases that fold up and you need to pull down to use. Naturally I was curious to see where the stairs led. And in the attic there were a lot of boxes. The boxes of stuff that people usually don't bother unpacking when the settle into their new homes, because they contain things not needed or wanted on a regular basses. You know things like, home videos, old dolls that have long since been outgrown, cloths that no longer fit those kinds of things. And I looked in some of the boxes.

I looked in quite a few boxes that day. I don't remember every item I found of course. Anyway the point is I found your letters. My dad had kept them after all those years. Isn't that nice? I thought it was. If it wasn't for that fact I probably wouldn't have bothered to read them. I read the first few because I wanted to know why he had kept them, you see.

After the first few I could see why. And I wanted to keep reading them. So I took a few to my room, telling myself I would return them later. I didn't want my dad to know I was reading his letters after all. And I did return them eventually. I wanted to read them again and again, though. I ended typing out my own copies.

So that's how I found your letters. How did I find your email address? Sorry, that's a secret. Don't panic though; I'm not a stalker or anything, I swear.

Once I found a way to email you -through unmentionable means; again not stalking- I knew I just had to. Had to email you I mean. Because I feel a special bond with you. Even though we are technically strangers. And since I know so much about fifteen year old self- if not your present day ,what?, 35 or 36 year old self. I figured you had a right to know about fifteen year old me. But I blocked my email address from my letters. And I'm not going to tell you my real name. You already know my last name, but I will not use my first name. I'm not an only child and my name is not exactly the rarest out there so I hope this will make it that much harder for you to find me in case you try to. I hope you understand this. For you my name is to be Elizabeth. I've always liked that name. And, like you did, I will also change the names of all my friends and family and anyone else I might be talking about. I'm sure you of all people can understand this.

You already know who my dad is. You don't know where he lives anymore, though. I'm sure knowing his name, you could find me if you truly tried to. I ask you not to do that though. I would rather stay anonymous to you.

Like it helped you to know someone was listening, so I hope it will help me. I hope you don't mind too much getting letters from a kid. I have a feeling you won't mind.

Love always,

Elizabeth


	2. Chapter 2

December 16, 2010

Dear Charlie,

It really took me a while to write you that first letter. I spent hours typing and deleting and retyping that letter. I don't know why exactly. It's just hard for me to come up with the right words sometimes.

I wonder sometimes what my dad was doing when he got your letters. I sometimes wonder what he thought when he found that first letter in his mail box. I wonder what you came to mean to him.

My dad is not one of the most emotional. Actually it would probably be more accurate to say he is and it's just me who's not emotional. He likes to hug me goodbye sometimes when he drops us off at our moms' house. I never feel comfortable with it, but I always hug him back lightly. I don't know why I should feel uncomfortable hugging my own father. I've never really been much of a hugger, but still I should like hugs from my dad. I know there was a time when I did.

I can remember the times when I would stand on my dad's shoes, hugging his waist as he danced around the room with me mirroring his footsteps. He would do that with all of us. Us meaning all of us kids; me my brother and my sister. I am the middle child. My brother is the youngest and my sister is the oldest. You know, I don't feel at all uncomfortable hugging my brother, Matt. Or, I should say, tackling him. Me and my brother like to "play ruff" as my mom would say. Sorry, I meant to say my brother and I. We don't wrestle anymore like used to, though. Occasionally we will if we are really hyper and it's just the two of us.

I really love my brother. Of all my immediate family Matt is the one I am closest to. I am not really that close to my dad, I am sorry to say. Nor am I close to my sister. She lives with my dad. You see my immediate family lives in two separate houses. There is my mom's house, where my mom, my brother, and I live. Then there is my dad's house where my dad and my sister live. Oh, and my stepmom. I guess she is now a part of my immediate family.

I have to get used to that. My dad and my mom are divorced, you see. Don't feel bad for me because of this; my parents have been divorced for eight years now so I'm already used to it. That's just how it is for some people. They think they love someone and so they get married. Then they find that they don't like the person they married. That that person was not who they had originally thought he/she was. That's what happened to my parents anyway, according to my mom.

My dad has not been married to his second wife for very long. Their first anniversary is coming up on Sunday December 19. Now I really like my stepmom. She is a 4th grade teacher which is cool because I always thought I would like to be a teacher when I grow up. A teacher or a physiatrist I think. She and I have a very similar taste in cloths as well. She even likes a lot of the same colors that I do! Not that these things are very important, but hey now I have someone else I can borrow cloths from.

I also like my mom's cloths, but hers are more formal. And I don't like the same colors she does. My mom likes browns and dark reds mostly. And green and purple too. I on the other hand like blue. Blue is my all time favorite color. I like all different shades of blue from light to dark. The only shade I don't like that much is navy blue. I don't know why. Incidentally that is my mom's favorite shade of blue. Go figure. I also like purple, orange, and gray. Most people think gray is a boring or even depressing color. I guess it is depending on how you look at it. I don't know gray just appeals to me. My favorite nail polish is a very cool gray. It looks kind of shinny and metallic on my nails.

Anyway I like my mom's cloths for the most part. I remember I wore one of her dresses last year for middle school prom. It was a really old dress that doesn't fit my mom anymore. She likes to keep all her old cloths in case she is ever able to fit in them again. And she usually is, too. It was this really cool black suit dress. I don't really know what else to call it. Don't picture me wearing a suit with a skirt. It wasn't like that. It was, well I don't know, it was a suit dress.

I hope you have a good Christmas holiday with your family. I want to wish you a happy almost birthday, in case I don't get the chance to send you another letter on your birthday. Which I know is on the day before Christmas.

Love always,

Elizabeth


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: If I do not get **_**at least **_**1**** review on this I will stop writing it. So if you want me to continue my letters please **_**tell me**_**.**

December 19, 2010

Dear Charlie,

My mom is really starting to get on my nerves. I know that sounds horrible, but it's true. Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not just some spoiled brat pouting because her mom took her cell phone away or something. It's just that this past year my mom has been acting very… weird. It's like she's another person.

In my mom's defense her mom- my grandmother- died last year. Actually she died on the same day as Michael Jackson. Thursday, June 25th, 2009. You probably don't believe me, but it's true.

So ever since her mom died, understandably, she has been grieving. She was really sad for a while, but then she seemed to get happier. And she _did_ get happier. _Incredibly _happier. I'm talking grinning clown happy.

It's kind of creepy to tell you the truth. You see my mom accepted Jesus Christ into her heart. Now we were already Christians. But now my mom is like supper Christian. She is always going to church meetings and baking cakes for fundraisers. And she made a lot of new friends with the ladies at church. This is all good. I'm not saying it's not. My mom needs more friends because, like me, she is not the most social. And unlike me she doesn't go to school where I have no choice but to socialize. She has work but she's a home health nurse. The people she sees on a daily basis at work are all old people. There's nothing wrong with old people of course, but my mom needs friends closer to her own age.

Am I starting to sound like the parental figure here? That's probably because I'm starting to feel like one with the way my mom talks to me nowadays. Even though she has friends now she has started to open up to me. She often tells me things like how she's scared the devil is trying to get her because she is close to God now. Last month the faucet on the kitchen sink broke and she told me she thought it was the devil that had caused it. That he was trying to get her to lose faith by throwing problems at her.

It was just a broken faucet! I don't want to hear about her religious nightmares. I'm the daughter she shouldn't be telling me things like this. She should save it for her church buddies. Or maybe go to a psychiatrist. She talks to as if I'm her best friend. And it makes me uncomfortable. I never really liked to tell my mom about my problems and I still don't. So why should she feel she can tell me hers? And she's always asking me to pray for her. Yester day she sent me a text to pray for her terrible headache to go away! And I was thinking _shouldn't you pray to God about more important things than headaches?_

And she's so cheerful all the time! Making stupid jokes and giggling like a little girl. It really creeps me out. And she is always playing the guilt card. Whenever I don't want to go to a church meeting with her she says that I should support her. She says that she always supported me when I needed it. And I'm like _you're the mom you're supposed to support me!_

I always end up feeling guilty when I don't give in. And when I do I feel resentful. Writing this letter is making me feel horrible, but I really need to vent. I don't feel I have any friend that I'm close enough to that I can talk about this with. The only other person I've mentioned it to is my brother. He feels the same way I do.

Thanks for listening

Love always,

Elizabeth


	4. Chapter 4

December 28, 2010

Dear Charlie,

I haven't written in a while because I didn't have anything to write. I'm on Christmas vacation and haven't been doing much. I spend my time reading my books or on the computer.

I spent Christmas at my dad's house this year and it was fun. We had our cousins Jr and Lisa and my aunt and uncle, who are their parents, over for Christmas dinner along with one of my stepmom's sisters and her son and daughter. Then we sang Christmas songs on Abbey's karaoke machine. Abbey is my stepmom's niece. Lisa and I are in choir so we were expected to sing. Lisa was to shy so she didn't. I sang, but I didn't like the pitch that the computer voice sang at. It was too high for me. My dad sang too with an exaggerated low voice. And Abbey sang Do You Hear What I Hear.

After me and Lisa went to my room. Lisa is a year older than me so we are often put together at these family things. We don't really have anything in common other than choir. Still this time we had something to talk about. I had just gotten a laptop for my birthday and had joined this website called . This is a website where people can post their stories or poems for other people to read. I had written a lot of poems and started a story on the site and I wanted to show Lisa the things I had written. She thought they were really cool. This is the poem she liked best.

**Wasting Time**

I'm just lying here wasting time.

I have plenty to do, yet I feel I have nothing to do.

That doesn't make sense, even to me, but that's how I feel.

I have new books on my shelf that are going unopened.

But I don't feel like reading.

So I'm just lying here wasting time.

I have songs that need to be learned sitting on my desk unheard.

But I don't feel like singing.

So I'm just lying here wasting time.

I have stories in my computer going unfinished.

But I don't feel like writing.

So I'm just lying here wasting time.

I have friends I could call.

But I don't feel like talking.

So I'm just lying here wasting time.

I have movies I could watch,

Activities I could participate in,

Tasks I could complete.

But I don't feel like doing much of anything.

So I'm just lying here wasting time.

My little brother knocks on my bedroom door.

He wants me to play catch with him.

But I don't feel like playing.

So I close the door in his face.

And I go back to lying on my bed and wasting time.

I just thought I would show it to you. I helped Lisa get her own account as well. Then we were called to open presents. Now usually we wait until midnight to open presents, but because nobody would be staying the night dad said we should already open them because they had to leave.

So we opened the presents at around eight. My presents were pajamas and a book light from my stepmom and a book from my dad. I was happy with the book light because I often stay up past my bedtime to read. Now I could use this to see instead of my cell phone. I had given my dad the names of three books I would like to get so I liked the book he got me. Still I wished he had gotten the book I had put on the top of the list Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex. Oh well, I'll ask my mom to take me to the bookstore and I can order it.

After we opened presents and took more pictures everyone left except for Jr who was spending the night. Jr is my brother's best friend and spends a lot of time at our house. Jr isn't actually his name of course. We started calling him that when we were little because we couldn't say his name and he was named after his dad.

We stayed at my dad's house for Christmas weekend and went back with our mom on Sunday. When we got back home we opened presents with my mom. I got a more pajamas, a little angle statue, and one of those blankets with arms from my mom. And a bracelet from one of my aunts. Pajamas are all well and good, but I already have plenty. My mom loves collecting those angle statues so when I opened that I couldn't help but think that she should have bought it for herself.

Not that I didn't like it. I put it on my bookshelf. I love decorating my bookshelf with things. Along with all my books my bookshelf has stuffed animals on it, three snow globs, a porcelain lizard, two eight balls, and a wax hand dotted all over the place. And now the angel. As for the blanket I was happy with that. I had seen the commercial when it first came out and had asked my mom to order it. She had said no of course and that was that. So I thought it was nice of her to get it now. Still she kind of ruined it by buying one for every one. She also gave my sister an angel and pajamas, so it was like she hadn't gotten anything just for me. And isn't that the point of presents? That you buy them with the individual in mind?

All in all I was a little disappointed with this year's presents. I hope you had a good Christmas.

Love always,

Elizabeth

**A/N:** Shout out to Skiittish. Without your review I wouldn't have written this. =D I hope to get another review from somebody.


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